Heparan sulfate (HS) is a highly sulfated polysaccharide and is present in large quantities on the cell surface and in the extracellular matrix. Herpes simplex virus type 1(HSV-1) utilizes a specialized cell surface HS, known as 3-O-sulfated HS, as an entry receptor to establish infection. Here, we exploit an approach to inhibit HSV-1 infection by using a 3-O-sulfated octasaccharide, mimicking the active domain of the entry receptor. The 3-O-sulfated octasaccharide was synthesized by incubating a heparin octasaccharide (3-OH octasaccharide) with HS 3-O-sulfotransferase isoform 3. The resultant 3-O-sulfated octasaccharide has a structure of ΔUA2S-GlcNS6S-IdoUA2S-GlcNS6S-IdoUA2S-GlcNS3S6S-IdoUA2S-GlcNS6S (where ΔUA is 4-deoxy-α-L-threo-hex-4-enopyranosyluronic acid, GlcN is D-glucosamine and IdoUA is L-iduronic acid). Results from cell based assays revealed that the 3-O-sulfated octasaccharide has stronger activity in blocking HSV-1 infection than that of the 3-OH octasaccharide, suggesting that the inhibition of HSV-1 infection requires a unique sulfation moiety. Our results suggest the feasibility of inhibiting HSV-1 infection by blocking viral entry with a specific oligosaccharide.
KeywordsHeparin; heparan sulfate; herpes simplex virus; glycoprotein D; sulfotransferase; oligosaccharides Heparan sulfate (HS) is a highly sulfated linear polysaccharide present ubiquitously on the cell surface and in the extracellular matrix. HS plays a role in regulating embryonic development, inflammatory response, blood coagulation and assisting viral/bacterial infections (1). Heparin, a commonly used anticoagulant drug, is a special form of HS containing glucuronic (GlcUA)/ iduronic acid (IdoUA) and glucosamine, each carrying sulfo groups (Fig. 1A). The uniquely distributed sulfation pattern of HS polysaccharide is believed to regulate its functional specificity (2-4). Thus, understanding the structure and function relationship of HS attracts considerable interest in improving the anticoagulant efficacy of heparin and exploiting heparin *Corresponding author: Rm 309, Beard Hall, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599. Tel.: 919-843-6511; Fax: 919-843-5432; E-mail: jian_liu@unc.edu.
NIH Public Access
Author ManuscriptBiochemistry. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2009 May 27.
Published in final edited form as:Biochemistry. 2008 May 27; 47(21): 5774-5783.
NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript or heparin-like molecules for the development of anticancer and antiviral drugs (5-7). The major difficulty in dissecting the structure and function relationship of HS is to obtain HS oligosaccharides or polysaccharides with defined structures. Chemical synthesis has been the major route to prepare structurally defined oligosaccharides to mimic the functions of HS. However, the synthesis of those molecules larger than hexasaccharides is extremely difficult. Using HS biosynthetic enzymes to prepare biologically active polysaccharides and oligosaccharides has recently gained momentum...